Movie Review

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings kicks Marvel’s future back into gear

The one big thing that has been missing from the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a feeling of intimacy when it comes to the action. There have been plenty of highly cinematic sequences, but the abundance of computer-generated imagery, especially in the hand-to-hand combat, makes the scenes feel repetitive and, frankly, boring after they’ve been done so many times.

That deficiency is addressed in a great way in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the studio’s first film focused on Asian characters. Based on a character that first appeared in Marvel Comics in 1973, the film finds Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) living as Shawn in San Francisco, where he leads a semi-aimless life working as a valet alongside his friend Katy (Awkwafina).

As a prologue makes clear, though, he has special fighting abilities in his blood from his father, Wenwu (Tony Chiu-Wai Leung), and mother, Jiang Li (Fala Chen). An attempt to steal a pendant from Shang-Chi by a mysterious group of fighters leads him and Katy to make their way to Macau, where Shang-Chi is reunited with his sister, Xialing (Meng’er Zhang). The two soon discover that Wenwu, who possesses the titular rings, is bent on a mission for power that involves them both, a journey that is influenced by an overwhelming sense of grief.

Written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, with co-writing credits to Dave Callaham and Andrew Lanham, Shang-Chi is the second film in Phase 4 of the MCU, but given how backward-looking Black Widow was, it really feels like a fresh start. Save for a couple of brief cameos and minor references, it has almost no connection to previous Marvel films, which counts as a breath of fresh air in the never-ending saga.

Consequently, Cretton and his team are given the freedom to create the character of Shang-Chi without any built-in expectations. Almost from the start, Shang-Chi and Katy are a lot of fun to watch together, showing a level of friendship that is enviable. And that’s even before Shang-Chi starts showing off his kung fu skills, most memorably aboard a bus careening down multiple San Francisco streets and on scaffolding on the side of a building in Macau.

Where the film runs into some trouble is when it’s forced into using an abundance of CGI. There’s no doubt the scenes in the first half of the film contain a good amount of CGI, but they’re filmed in such an up-close and kinetic kind of way that every punch and kick is felt by the audience. That’s not the case in the second half, which finds people mostly fighting from a distance as the stakes are upped from the personal to the monstrous. Much of the emotional groundwork that had been laid by Cretton is overwhelmed by incomprehensible airborne combat.

Liu is a natural as the lead, making it a wonder that he mostly has bit TV parts on his resumé prior to this. He has an abundance of charisma both in and out of fighting scenes, so it’s easy to see why he was chosen for the role. With this, Crazy Rich Asians, The Farewell, and Raya and the Last Dragon, Awkwafina has become the go-to actor for telling Chinese stories, and she’s as fun and effective as always. Also great are Tony Chiu-Wai Leung and Michelle Yeoh, who commands the screen in a late appearance.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings bodes well for the continued storytelling success of the MCU. While it has some supernatural elements, it’s at its best when it focuses on the innate martial arts abilities of its hero and the unique story of his family.

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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings opens in theaters on September 3.

Simu Liu in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Simu Liu in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios

Simu Liu in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Movie Review

Meta-comedy remake Anaconda coils itself into an unfunny mess

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda

Photo by Matt Grace

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda.

In Hollywood’s never-ending quest to take advantage of existing intellectual property, seemingly no older movie is off limits, even if the original was not well-regarded. That’s certainly the case with 1997’s Anaconda, which is best known for being a lesser entry on the filmography of Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez, as well as some horrendous accent work by Jon Voight.

The idea behind the new meta-sequel Anaconda is arguably a good one. Four friends — Doug (Jack Black), Griff (Paul Rudd), Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) — who made homemade movies when they were teenagers decide to remake Anaconda on a shoestring budget. Egged on by Griff, an actor who can’t catch a break, the four of them pull together enough money to fly down to Brazil, hire a boat, and film a script written by Doug.

Naturally, almost nothing goes as planned in the Amazon, including losing their trained snake and running headlong into a criminal enterprise. Soon enough, everything else takes second place to the presence of a giant anaconda that is stalking them and anyone else who crosses its path.

Written and directed by Tom Gormican, with help from co-writer Kevin Etten, the film is designed to be an outrageous comedy peppered with laugh-out-loud moments that cover up the fact that there’s really no story. That would be all well and good … if anything the film had to offer was truly funny. Only a few scenes elicit any honest laughter, and so instead the audience is fed half-baked jokes, a story with no focus, and actors who ham it up to get any kind of reaction.

The biggest problem is that the meta-ness of the film goes too far. None of the core four characters possess any interesting traits, and their blandness is transferred over to the actors playing them. And so even as they face some harrowing situations or ones that could be funny, it’s difficult to care about anything they do since the filmmakers never make the basic effort of making the audience care about them.

It’s weird to say in a movie called Anaconda, but it becomes much too focused on the snake in the second half of the film. If the goal is to be a straight-up comedy, then everything up to and including the snake attacks should be serving that objective. But most of the time the attacks are either random or moments when the characters are already scared, and so any humor that could be mined all but disappears.

Black and Rudd are comedy all-stars who can typically be counted on to elevate even subpar material. That’s not the case here, as each only scores on a few occasions, with Black’s physicality being the funniest thing in the movie. Newton is not a good fit with this type of movie, and she isn’t done any favors by some seriously bad wigs. Zahn used to be the go-to guy for funny sidekicks, but he brings little to the table in this role.

Any attempt at rebooting/remaking an old piece of IP should make a concerted effort to differentiate itself from the original, and in that way, the new Anaconda succeeds. Unfortunately, that’s its only success, as the filmmakers can never find the right balance to turn it into the bawdy comedy they seemed to want.

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Anaconda is now playing in theaters.

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